What is the difference between knowledge and spiritual enlightenment?

At root, there is none. Both are gifts from God, and both come from the same source. The question assumes an opposition that Islam does not know.

Many people imagine knowledge and enlightenment as two separate worlds. On one side are books, learning and reason. On the other is an inner experience that comes suddenly and mysteriously. Anyone who thinks this way will naturally ask what the difference is.

From the point of view of Islam, this division is not right. All genuine understanding comes from God, whatever path it takes to reach a person. The first verse above shows this. If we are told to pray for more knowledge, then knowledge is not something a person simply takes for himself. It is something God gives.

The other two verses show where this gift leads. Knowledge that truly comes from God does not stay in the head. It reaches the heart and awakens awe of the Creator. That is exactly what many people mean when they speak of enlightenment.

So one can say that knowledge and spiritual enlightenment are two names for the same gift, seen from different sides. Whoever asks God for both does not have to choose between mind and heart.